Clemson to add 1,400 beds to campus by 2015

Artist's rendering of the master plan for the Douthit Hills project at Clemson.

Artist's rendering of apartments in new student village at Clemson University.

Artist's rendering of apartments in view looking west from West Cox Boulevard.

CLEMSON - Clemson University is building high-end apartments as part of a $123.5 million student village that will accommodate students studying at a nearby technical college planning to transfer to Clemson.

Upperclassmen and graduate students will fill 700 beds at the apartments. Students participating in the Bridge to Clemson program will fill an additional 700 beds, said Gerald Vander Mey, director of university planning and design.

The Bridge to Clemson is an invitation-only program for freshmen who attend Tri-County Technical College. They are admitted to Clemson if they meet credit and grade requirements.

Ronnie Booth, president of Tri-County Technical College, has supported the idea of housing Bridge students at Clemson.

"It will provide a supportive environment that will help them make the transition to college, succeed academically and develop a sense of community, all of which contribute to a richer college experience," he said in a news announcement.

The idea behind the new housing is to create an intimate, park-like atmosphere that mimics an urban layout. Universities such as Rochester Institute of Technology have embraced such design successfully, Vander Mey said.

The apartments will have their own bathrooms, kitchens, dining rooms and living rooms, and will be shorter than most dorms on campus.

The university's Barnes & Noble bookstore will move to the village, Vander Mey said, doubling its current size. Other unnamed retail and restaurants will open around it.

Money for the project comes from auxiliary revenue collected through fees paid by students who live on campus, said university spokesman John Gouch. Auxiliary money doesn't come from tuition or university funds.

Pending state approval, the student community will be located where the former Douthit Hills duplexes once stood, near the water tower at the east campus entrance. The site has been a vacant lot for more than five years, Vander Mey said.

Construction is set to start next year and the apartments will open in 2015.

The 1,400 beds will provide swing space while Clemson renovates or replaces other residence halls. Johnstone Hall and Clemson House are at the top of the list to renovate or replace.

The board of trustees also approved the concept for The Watt Family Innovation Center, a three-story, 40,000 square-foot facility to be built in the middle of the campus. A $5.3 million gift from the family of Charles Watt, an alumnus, will help fund the building. Science, engineering and technology teaching and research will be housed there.